Tomac Wins his 2nd Race of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross season
After years of early season slow starts, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac has two wins so far and only sits three points behind points leader Ken Roczen.
For years, Tomac has battled for the title but the slow starts he’s experienced and the oft times he’s had bad finished with crashes, meant he was always playing catch up. Sitting only three points behind Roczen is a Tomac win and Roczen third or worse from Tomac taking over the red plate. Can this be the year Tomac finally breaks through and win the elusive title?
When the gate dropped on the 450SX Class Main Event in Oakland Saturday night, Roczen put his Honda up front with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo, Tomac, and Webb in tow. The four riders separated themselves from the rest of the field, with all four launching a triple-triple combination through a rhythm section just before the finish line. Seven minutes in, Webb had lost contact but the top three were within 1.6 seconds of one another. On Lap 8 of the 21-lap race, Tomac ran his teammate high in a 180 degree berm, standing him up on his way past. A slight bobble delayed an immediate attack on Roczen for the lead, but it came on Lap 11 entering a tight corner after Tomac made up time through the track’s short whoop section. Tomac had the speed and inched away from Roczen, but on Lap 15 he made a mistake through the sand section and came into the next corner too hot. Rather than lay it down, Tomac rode over the berm and Roczen tucked around before Tomac re-entered the track. Three laps later Tomac duplicated his first pass for the lead – this time he held onto it. On the final lap, the top three positions looked set, but Webb made up ground and in the final corner squared up and came across for an aggressive pass on Roczen that brought the riders together. Both bobbled and both stayed up, but Webb grabbed second place. The pass was reminiscent of Webb’s last-corner pass on Roczen in Arlington in 2019, though that pass was for the race win. Immediately after the Oakland race Roczen got off his bike holding his right boot clearly in pain.
“Once I got to the front, after the sand, I lifted a wheelie, and missed my rear brake when I set the front end down,” said Tomac post race. “That’s why I rode over that berm. Luckily, I was able to hop right back on. That was a gnarly fight, I was like, ‘Gosh dang it I just blew it’ but I had enough time to get back to the front. So frickin’ awesome night.”
The choas in the 250SX Class Western Regional continues producing a series points changes for the top four positions. When the gate dropped, JGRMX / Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Alex Martin led the pack. In the first corner Monster Energy / Star Yamaha Racing’s Justin Cooper was right with him, impressive considering Cooper gated far to the outside thanks to a trip to the LCQ and therefore a bad gate pick. Cooper got shuffled back on the opening lap while Martin dealt with immediate pressure from Forkner. The Kawasaki rider got past on lap two and tried to gap the pack. Ferrandis, third place on lap one, soon got into second and took chase. Ten minutes into the race Ferrandis put a move on race leader in a 180 degree turn; Forkner ran wide and off the track, reentering in second position where he remained until the finish. Justin Cooper, who rounded the first lap in sixth, got past Martin on Lap 15 to grab the final podium position, but it wasn’t good enough to hold onto the points lead. Cooper now trails Ferrandis by two points.
Two weekends ago Ferrandis was put on probation for an aggressive pass. After the Oakland race he was asked if the probation was on his mind when he made the aggressive pass on Forkner for the lead, “For sure I was thinking about it because I don’t want to [be] disciplined anymore. …I saw I was faster in the whoops than Austin and I think he slowed down because of the lapped rider and I came to his inside and made the move. I think it was okay. I saw on the TV he went off the track but yeah, it’s racing…” The AMA confirmed there was no infraction to his probation with the pass.
So now the racing shifts to San Diego this weekend. Right now it is anybody’s guess. Get your dart board, write the riders names out and have your friends over for darts. Who knows, you may pick the winner there just as easy as anyone’s guess now.